 |
 |
Deron Roger Johnson
Cincinnati Reds
First Base
Born: July 17, 1938, San Diego, CA
Signed: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent before 1956 season
Major League Teams: New York Yankees 1960-1961; Kansas City Athletics 1961-1962; Cincinnati Reds 1964-1967; Atlanta Braves 1968; Philadelphia Phillies 1969-1973; Oakland Athletics 1973-1974; Milwaukee Brewers 1974; Boston Red Sox 1974; Chicago White Sox 1975; Boston Red Sox 1975-1976
Died: April 23, 1992, Poway, CA (Age 53)
Slugger Deron Johnson accumulated 245 home runs over a 16-year career that benefited from the advent of the American League designated hitter in 1973. Johnson enjoyed a career year in 1965, leading the N.L. in RBIs with 130 and slugging 32 home runs while hitting .287. He finished fourth that season in MVP voting behind the eventual winner Willie Mays (#250), Sandy Koufax (#300) and Maury Wills. He hit over 20 home runs in a season six times and cleared the 80 RBI mark seven times.
His sole postseason appearance came in 1973 with the World Champion Athletics. Johnson appeared in six of the seven games, hitting .300 (3 for 10). Following his playing days, Johnson served as a coach for the Angels (1979-1980, 1989-1991), Mets (1981), Phillies (1982-1984), Mariners (1985-1986) and White Sox (1987). When he passed away from lung cancer in 1992, the Angels honored their former coach by wearing his initials, "DJ," on the sleeve of their jerseys for the remainder of the season.
Building the Set
January 25, 2020 from Los Angeles, CA - Card #44
Some January days are longer than others, and on a particularly long January day at work a few months ago, I decided I needed a few more 1965 Topps cards for our set. I've been familiar with Greg Morris Cards for a while now, as I've been using a lot of the images of old Topps cards scanned for their eBay auction listings in these posts and within the posts over at my 1956 Topps blog. The images are always centered and clear and for all the help Greg Morris has indirectly provided me, I thought I'd browse his eBay store.
 |
| 1982 Tastykake Phillies |
The Card
Topps used the exact same photo for Johnson's first three cards found in its 1959, 1960 and 1961 sets. Then they posed Johnson in a Reds uniform a few years later and used photos from that shoot on his 1964, 1965 and 1967 cards. Hopefully someone better with stadium history can identify where Johnson is standing and comment on this post. I know it's not Crosley Field as Johnson is wearing a road uniform.
Johnson was coming off his first full season in the majors when this card was produced, so Topps had to write about his minor league exploits. His 162 home runs were over six seasons, giving him an impressive average of 27 home runs per season. His minor league high was 33 home runs with the San Diego Padres, the Reds top farm team and his home club team, in 1963.
Reds Team Set
1965 Season
As mentioned above, this was Johnson's finest season. Despite a strong line-up consisting of Pete Rose (#207), Vada Pinson (#355), Frank Robinson (#120) and Johnson, the Reds still finished fourth in the N.L. Having been the team's everyday first baseman in 1964, Johnson was moved to third to allow for a platoon at first between Gordy Coleman (#289) and Tony Perez (#581). He was named the starting third baseman on both The Sporting News and the Associated Press all-star teams.
Johnson would later serve as the hitting coach for Rose and Perez on the 1983 Phillies.
Johnson was purchased from the Braves by the Phillies on December 3, 1968. He had a good run with the Phillies, serving as their regular left fielder in 1969, and then moving back to first base for the next three seasons. In 563 games with the Phillies, the longest tenure with any team during his career, Johnson hit .251 with 88 home runs and 304 RBIs. He hit 22 home runs at home in 1971, breaking Del Ennis' home record set in 1950. On July 10th and 11th, Johnson hit four consecutive home runs against the Expos, which he listed as one of his career highlights along with playing in the World Series.
Having lost the starting first baseman's job in 1973 to Willie Montanez, Johnson was traded to the A's on May 2nd for Jack Bastable. He'd return to the Phillies in 1982 and he served as the team's hitting and first base coach during the Pat Corrales (#107) and Paul Owens era between 1982 and 1984.
|
|
|
|
|
First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #131
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16): 1959-1962, 1964-1974, 1976
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 1990 Swell Baseball Greats #34
87 - Johnson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 2/7/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
The Phillies Room
SABR
The Trading Card Database
In some cases, the first and last cards listed above are subjective and chosen by me if multiple cards were released within the same year. Most recent mainstream card may also be subjective and does not include extremely low serial numbered cards, buybacks or cut autograph cards.
Prior Card: #74 Red Sox Rookie Stars
Next Card: #76 Sam McDowell - Cleveland Indians
It just occurred to me that moving Greg Luzinski back to first base may have been a better defensive option than bringing Montanez in from right field.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why the Phillies didn't do that?
ReplyDelete